Romeo and Julliet, only better and more interesting! (Blood Wedding: MCE - Federico Garcia Lorca)

Member Name: allyb24

Product:	Blood Wedding: MCE - Federico Garcia Lorca
Date:	20/09/09 (71 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant characters, vivid discriptions, passionate and romantic

Disadvantages: If you have a bad translation, the meaning and feeling of the words may be lost

A tale of lust, love and betrayal, Lorca's 'Blood Wedding' is one of the most gripping and exciting plays I have read. I often don't like reading plays as I find that their vivid meanings can not be fully explained in the short paraphrased stage directions, however I couldn't put Blood Wedding down.


I must say now that this next part of the review contains some spoilers, although I knew what was going to happen before I read it and still found it brilliant and shocking.


Lorca himself grew up in rural Spain, and this upbringing can clearly be seen to influence his later work, especially in Blood Wedding. The play is set in rural Spain where the land is dry and therefore goof, fertile land is sort after and very valuable. The story starts with the Bridegroom attempting to leave his mother to go to the vineyards. This causes a great deal of stress to her as he is her last remaining family member, as her husband and other son were killed in violent knife attacks by the Felix family. When it comes to light that her precious son is to marry, she is shocked to discover that before her son, the Bride had another lover, Leonardo, of the Felix family. This creates great animosity between the two women, even more so when Leonardo turns up to their wedding with his new wife and young family. When it is discovered that both Leonardo and the Bride are missing after the wedding, the Bridegroom storms off in a jealous rage, swearing to take revenge. We find the wayward couple in a forest where they are joined by personifications of the moon and death. The moon takes the shape of a young wood cutter dressed in white while death is depicted as an old beggar woman, dressed in dark rags. While the Bride and Leonardo Hide, these two mysterious characters confer and decide their fate, as well as the fate of the vengeful Bridegroom. The couple realise that it will be the moon that will give them away so they try to avoid its light, but to no avail. The moon rises up, leading the angry, jealous Bridegroom to them. A battle ensues and both men are killed.


The opening of the play truly sets up the character of the mother as a very lonely and scared human being. Her stuttered and repeated words show that although she is completely normal, her grief from past losses have not yet left her and still haunt her dreams as well as her everyday life.


My favourite part of the play is the heated and emotional conversation between the Bride and the Mother after the funeral of her last son. It is so well written and beautifully poetic. One can not help but feel empathy for both characters, however it is the mothers pain filled words that really got to me. The way Lorca has managed to so accurately describe the grief felt after the loss of a loved one is amazing, and the fact that it can be translated into an entirely different language and still hold poignancy, meaning and emotion truly shows the brilliance of the language.


I also feel that the scene with the beggar woman and the moon is, although very surreal, a vital and interesting way of explaining a very complex plot. The moons speech is almost written in song and encourages you to read with a rhythm which is an interesting break from traditional play dialogue.


The only thing that may let this play down is a bad translation. As Blood Wedding is originally written in Spanish, it is important to make sure that you get a good translation in order to fully appreciate the language and so that the text still makes sense. I have seen that some translations may have entire sentences different to others. The translation I have got is brilliant. It is the Methuen Student Edition translated by Gwynne Edwards. Out of the other versions I have seen in my class, I believe that this is the best translation as it has kept the beautiful fluidity of the language. It also has a brilliant life history of Lorca, who led a very interesting life himself, as well as a well written commentary on the play, notes and pictures at the end. The play itself is very short but the book is well worth buying. It is £8.99 (or there abouts)


I would recommend this play to any drama lover, any one who has an interest in non-British playwrights, or anyone who just wants a really good read. I would be happy to spend a lot of time analysing and rereading it, and I bet I would find a new meaning behind it every time I did.

Summary: Brilliant, Its a must see/read.